You are running a very outdated version of Internet Explorer. Patheos and most other websites will not display properly on this version. To better enjoy Patheos and your overall web experience, consider upgrading to the current version of Internet Explorer. Find more information HERE.

Influences

We also see this religious syncretism coupled with an intellectual adaptation of Greek "strategies of existence" during the later Hellenistic period, most conspicuously illustrated in the scriptural books of Ecclesiastes in 250 B.C.E. and Daniel in the 2nd century B.C.E. The teaching of Ecclesiastes reflects the sense of predeterminism and detachment associated with the Greek philosophy of Stoicism. It instructs the reader not to become too emotionally attached to what happens in life because it is all predetermined by God. Moreover, Ecclesiastes's portrayal of an utterly transcendent and seemingly absent God resembles the Greek concept of impersonal fate.

Next, while the book of Daniel is based on the figure of Daniel in the Ugaritic Aqhat Epic, the book was most likely written during the Hellenistic period in approximately 164 B.C.E. Moreover, Daniel's apocalyptic visions in chapters 7-12 incorporate Hellenistic intellectual and religious influences like Platonic dualism, and his reference to secrets of the future or hidden knowledge possessed by God only revealed to the "elect" reflects the ideas of Hellenistic mystery cults and gnosticism. Finally, the book's portrayal of individual resurrection, unprecedented in the Hebrew scriptures, is a definite reflection of Hellenistic culture that would be developed in both Jewish and Christian cultures following the destruction of the Second Temple.